


Song That Might Play When You Fight Sans

by dragonashes



Series: Quintessence: Undertale One-shots [19]
Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Everyone Needs A Hug, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Temporary Character Death, Timeline Shenanigans
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-23
Updated: 2017-04-23
Packaged: 2018-10-22 22:14:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,780
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10706217
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dragonashes/pseuds/dragonashes
Summary: Frisk, the young and ambitious Ambassador for Monsters, has to deal with a lot of things most children don't think about.  Assassination attempts are one of them.After one such incident that nearly claims her life, someone decides that steps need to be taken to ensure that it never happens again.





	Song That Might Play When You Fight Sans

It had been two months since the assassination attempt, and just three days since Dr. Wiselove had given Frisk a clean bill of health.  It came as a surprise to her when Papyrus turned up in her living room, nearly smothered under Toriel’s tea, pie, and general mothering, and said that Sans wanted to talk in the park nearby.

Sans had been avoiding her since the incident, despite the fact that he had been the one to find her.  Frisk still felt guilty about it; if she had been stronger, or had ACTed differently, she could have gotten out of the situation on her own.  She had overcome so much in the Underground and on the surface; why had one fight with a misguided human given her so much trouble?  She wondered if Sans had an answer for her.

Despite his appearance - one eye flickering an eerie blue and yellow, the other dark - the sight of her good friend filled her with DETERMINATION.  This was handy, since he immediately summoned a strange, glowing skull and…

...and she was looking at Sans again across the empty park as if nothing had happened.  Frisk flexed her fingers, feeling the familiar tingle of a reloaded SAVE.

“sorry, kid,” Sans said, initiating battle once more.  “i really didn’t want to do this, but it’s for your own good.”

Frisk felt her soul shatter under a wave of bones.

RELOAD

“believe me, i wish it wasn’t up to me...but no one else would do this.”

Frisk felt her body dissolve under the pressure of an intense beam of energy - less of a surprise, this time.

RELOAD

This time, Sans said nothing before turning her soul blue and sending her flying upwards...then crashing down.

RELOAD

“c’mon.  you’re a smart kid.  work with me here.”

He sent another wave of bones, and Frisk twitched barely out of the path of the devastation.  Through the churning in her stomach from reloading so many SAVEs in a row she felt the pattern of Sans’s attack, and dodged a set of energy blasts as well.

She didn’t quite dodge the next set, but the injury was minimal.  She pushed the pain aside, focusing on reading Sans’s moves.  She wasn’t quite fast enough…

RELOAD

...but she was beginning to see how he telegraphed his attacks.  She had never realized how  _ fast _ he could be.  Who had taught him to fight?

After almost a straight minute of bones, blasters, and strangely-manipulated gravity, Frisk felt the battle shift.  It was her turn.

She took a moment to breathe heavily, before asking Sans why he was attacking.

“it’s nothing personal, kid,” he replied.  “like i said, it’s for your own good.”

He opened his mouth like he was going to say more, then -

_ Slam! _

RELOAD

Frisk dodged Sans’s opening attack much better this time.  On her turn, she didn’t try to TALK again - it seemed Sans had nothing more to say about the situation - but instead chose to CHECK her friend.  She’d never had an occasion to before.

* SANS 1 ATK 1 DEF   
* The easiest sparring partner.   
* Can only deal 1 damage.

Frisk stared at the information in disbelief, then looked at the monster across from her.  Sans met her gaze and shrugged, lazily, before starting his next attack with a wave of bones.

One nicked Frisk’s shin, and she realized that it really  _ had _ done only one damage...initially, at least.  She felt her HP draining - some kind of poison effect? - but thankfully it wore off quickly.  Another bad dodge brought the disturbing realization that her soul was not immune to damage after being hit, like it was while she fought or sparred against her other friends.

Yes, Sans could only do one damage at a time, but he could do damage in such quick succession that it could be instantly deadly.  Add his poison effect, and he was easily the toughest challenge she’d faced since...well, since Asriel, the self-proclaimed “god of hyper-death.”

A moment’s inattention caused her to catch her shin on the last bone of Sans’s attack, and she felt her HP drain.  She braced herself for another RELOAD, only to feel the drain stop unexpectedly.  She only had 1 HP, but at least she wasn’t dead.

Frisk opened her phone, pulling a Nice Cream out of her dimensional box with shaky fingers.  It was still refreshingly cold, and she took her time nibbling on it.  It was a relief to feel her HP increase, though it only got back up to 16.  She had a feeling she’d need every bit of HP she could muster.

“Smile!  Somebody loves you!” the Nice Cream wrapper declared.

The next attack was, thankfully, slower than the first two.  It was a test of endurance to dodge, but she managed just fine.  She made a mental note to thank Undyne for insisting that Frisk join Papyrus and Alphys in their training ‘exercises,’ even though she was a bit out of practice thanks to her injuries a few months back.

Frisk stood, panting, as Sans’s turn ended.  It was a little disturbing to see his habitual smile plastered across his face with none of the usual good humor behind it.  Hesitantly, Frisk asked Sans what he wanted.

Sans refused to respond, instead summoning a blaster.  Frisk, caught off-guard, was seared by half the blast and felt her HP drain once again.

When the bright light cleared, she noticed that it was her turn.  She tried to ACT...but the option wasn’t even there.  She tried to show MERCY, but - just like when she fought Asgore - she couldn’t offer to spare her opponent or flee from the fight.  Hesitantly, she reached for her items, but those were gone as well.

Her only option was to FIGHT.

Frisk deliberately whiffed her first attack, swinging her weapon - a pocketknife Asgore bought her for her birthday, and which she only really used for camping - clear over Sans’s head.

“don’t do that, kid,” Sans said, sounding oddly disappointed.  “come at me for real.  i can take it.  i’ve got big bones.”

_ His  _ attack was ruthless, thrashing Frisk around by her soul until she felt it shatter against a nearby rock.

RELOAD

Immediately rolling into a dodge against Sans’s opening salvo, Frisk realized that he had changed up his attack pattern.  Instead of the vicious assault she had suffered after the last few times Sans initiated combat, she instead found herself staring down a single blaster.  She rolled out of the way, recognizing this attack.

Sure enough, when the light faded, Frisk found that she could not access her items or ACT.  Taking a deep breath, she steadied her shaking hands around her pocket knife and swung firmly towards Sans.

He dodged.

A hint of humor crept back into his expression.  “what?  did you expect me to just stand there and take it?”

Frisk smirked back.  Some part of her was screaming that she should be panicking after one of her best friends killed her six times in a row without provocation, but nearly  _ everyone _ she knew had killed her at least once just for being human.  Sans...well, he knew she could SAVE and RELOAD, for one, so…

Her thought process was interrupted by a massive attack from the skeleton across from her, keeping her rolling and dodging as he unloaded an entire arsenal onto their clearing.  She got through with just one small scratch, but it still reduced her HP by more than a quarter.

She swung at him again, watching his body language as he dodged.  He dodged differently than anyone she regularly practiced with, and it was throwing her off.  Instead of moving his body in the usual manner, he simply...wasn’t there when she swung.

Several rounds of combat later, she realized two things.  First, the longer she survived, the more tired Sans got.  His attacks didn’t just become less complicated, they also got slower.  Second, there was a faint method to Sans’s dodging.

If Sans had really been going all out, Frisk knew it would have been almost impossible to beat him.  Whatever this was, it wasn’t a genuine attempt to murder her (despite the repeated deaths).

On her next turn, Frisk made a big show of lunging towards Sans, bringing her knife down hard.  Sans dodged, just as she suspected...and she was there to meet him.

She  _ felt _ his surprise when her knife hand met his body, felt the stiff fear as he prepared for the impact of blade on bone.

_ Poff! _

Frisk’s palm barely tingled from where it had met his sternum through his hoodie, just once, in a solid pat.  She retrieved her knife from where she had dropped it and braced for whatever Sans threw at her next.

Nothing came.

Sans was looking at her like she had just stolen all his socks - not angrily, but with some of the biggest kicked-puppy eyes she had ever seen on a skeleton.  (Thanks to Papyrus, she had seen a skeleton make eyes that would put  _ any _ puppy to shame.)  The creepy glow was gone.  He breathed out, slowly, and took a half-step back.

* Sans is sparing you.

Frisk felt for the MERCY option, and found it right where she expected.  Without hesitation, she spared Sans as well.

As the magic of the battle faded, she felt her knees give out.  She hadn’t suffered much damage, thanks to her much-improved dodging skills, but she shakily reached for the Nice Cream again just in case.  Adrenaline and the memory of so many deaths in such a short span of time made her limbs shake and her stomach turn.  She fought to keep the monster sweets down, not sure what would happen to her injuries if the magic that was healing them was no longer present.

She had just regained control of her body and was pushing herself up when she instinctively rolled away.  She turned back, startled by the involuntary reaction, to see Sans with his hand extended towards her as if trying to help her up.  He looked just as shocked as she did, and not a little guilty.

Frisk cleared her throat and stood, planting her feet firmly.  “So...what was that all about?  That wasn’t what I thought Papyrus meant when he said you wanted to ‘talk in the park’ this afternoon.”

Sans sat down against the rock, curling into himself at the mention of his brother.  “before we get into that...why didn’t you hit me?”

Frisk frowned.  “I did hit you.”

“you know what I meant.  you took the extra time to drop your knife when you  _ knew _ you had me.  why?”

“You’re my friend.  I don’t want to hurt you.”

“frisk, i killed you  _ six times. _  don’t you remember that at all?”

“O-of course I do.”  Frisk rubbed her chest, where her soul throbbed painfully with the memory of  _ splitting apart, shattering into nothingness… _

“then why didn’t you fight back?  why would you spare me after i did that to you?”

“Oh!”  Frisk perked up and scooted a little closer to Sans - still several feet away, but closer.  “Is that what you were trying to do?  Make me angry enough to try to hurt someone?  It won’t work.  Pretty much all my friends have killed me.  Undyne killed me almost a dozen times.  I thought Papyrus was going to kill me with the electrical puzzle, then again on the bridge, but he didn’t.

“So...it’s not a big deal, really.  We’re friends, even if I haven’t seen you much recently.  I mean, it was really scary - especially at first - but you have a reason for it, right?  That’s why I didn’t want to hurt you.  You just have one HP; even hitting you lightly with a weapon would probably take you out.  I was afraid for a minute that I’d hurt you hitting you like I did, but I’ve seen Undyne give you harder noogies so I hoped you’d be okay.”

Sans dropped his head into his hands.  “you’re too freaking  _ kind _ , kid.  what if i had really meant to hurt you?”

“What if you had really died?”

“that’s not the point.”

“It is!  I would’ve had to RELOAD to get you back, and we’d be right back where we started!”

“you should probably RELOAD anyways.  that cut on your leg looks…”  He stopped, as if unable to describe what he’d done.

“Nope!  I have to have  _ something _ to add to my collection.”  At his confused look, Frisk rolled up her sleeves and pant legs, revealing a collection of white scars.  She started at her elbow.  “This is from one of Undyne’s spears; I never was good at dodging the yellow ones that change directions.  The burn is from Toriel, when she was trying to stop me from leaving the ruins.  Those ones there are Mettaton’s; when we were dancing on TV, some of his mini-robots ran into me.  They’re hotter than they look!  Oh, don’t tell him I said that.”

She shifted her leg to get a better look.  “That one there is from Papyrus, actually; I wasn’t sure right away what turning me blue did, and I didn’t dodge one of his bones fast enough.  The one next to it is from Asgore, when I stopped moving accidentally during one of his orange attacks.  The funny line on my knee is from one of Alphys’s traps.  There was this puzzle that would send me flying, and the first time it happened I wasn’t ready for it.  I landed funny, and the grate burned me.  All the lava makes the metal heat up, I guess.  This one is from Aaron-”

“e-enough, kiddo.”

“Okay.  Anyways, my point is that the only ones I didn’t have scars from are you and Doggo, and I’m good at staying still so Doggo can’t find me.  He’d tackle me if I walked by him - that’s what Lesser Dog did yesterday.”  She showed him her palm, nicked with scrapes.

“we’re terrible friends to you.  no kid should have to carry  _ scars _ around like freaking mementos.”

“Maybe not, but I’m not a normal kid.”  Frisk edged closer to Sans again.  “ _ Now _ will you tell me why you wanted me here today?  I was promised talking, and I’ve been doing most of the talking.  It’s your turn.”

Sans sighed and sunk a little further into his hoodie.  The lights in his sockets dimmed so much that it almost looked like they were empty.  She knew he was trying to be serious, but it was  _ creepy _ .

“you almost died during that assassination attempt two months ago.”

“Yes, but-”

“no.  you almost  _ died _ .  no saves, no reloads.  that human did...something that was preventing all magic from working around you, and you know from alphys’s tests that saves and reloads count as magic.  even the human doctors had a hard time saving you.  your heart stopped once, and they weren’t sure they could get it started back up again.

“we decided that someone had to teach you to fight - fight for real, not just talk your way out or play-spar with undyne and pap.  trouble is, no one wanted to attack you for real.  heck,  _ i  _ didn’t want to attack you for real.”  He took his hands out of his hoodie pockets to look at them, and Frisk thought she saw them shaking.

“Then why did you?”  She didn’t mean the question to come out aggressively; she was genuinely curious.  Sans was, after all, known for being exceptionally lazy.

“i owed a favor to...to someone and he called it in.  asked me to fight you, see how much you know, try to show you some moves.  it’s...supposed to be a weekly thing.”

“Oh.”  Frisk shuddered.  She really, really didn’t want to fight Sans every week.  “Well, if we’re going to do this regularly, shouldn’t we, um, talk about it?  If we just show up here every week and you kill me over and over, then we ignore it the rest of the week, it’ll be...really, really hard.”  She felt her breath catch and bit her lip to fight back tears.  She didn’t want to make her friend feel any worse than he already did.  She was okay!  Really, she was!  There was no reason to cry…!

“oh, kid...i’m so, so sorry…”  He made a half-movement towards her, as if trying to comfort her, then stopped.  Frisk was pleased to notice that she didn’t flinch this time, and scooted close enough to grab him and swing her legs over his so he couldn’t get away.  After a tense moment, she felt him respond.  The skeleton brothers really did give the best hugs.

**Author's Note:**

> Papyrus and Alphys’s training sessions (mentioned earlier in the story) are the stuff of legends. The physical portions border on sadistic, but the fact that Papyrus insists that the participants yell loudly about how great they themselves are makes the whole thing amusing.
> 
> When Alphys discovered Naruto, she immediately pegged Papyrus as Maito Guy. Papyrus, flattered without really understanding, obligingly dressed up as that particular character for Halloween that year. Everyone erased the incident from their collective memories, taking only two lessons away from it: that both facial hair and spandex are terrifying on skeletons, and that Papyrus is surprisingly good with nunchaku.
> 
> Sans dressed up as a rock. Sans always dresses up as a rock. He’s so good at it that all his friends mistake him for a real rock, and unfortunately believe that he ditches them for the evening. He shares his trick-or-treat loot with his pet rock, who is his inspiration. (And with Papyrus, of course.)
> 
> .
> 
> This story was born out of the thought: what would motivate Sans to fight Frisk/the player in a pacifist scenario? Answer: battle training FROM HELL. Probably not realistic, but you'd be surprised what apathy can drive a person to justify.
> 
> Here, I think Sans owed a favor to Asgore. Asgore has proven to be aware of at least the concept of resets. After all, he is not surprised when Frisk tells him that he’s killed her before in the neutral ending. Asgore wants Sans to make a big impression on Frisk to emphasize the risks involved in a real fight. For all his soft-and-squishy-ness, Asgore is capable of being ruthless. He did kill and/or order the deaths of six humans. He is clearly capable of combat - he will kill Frisk if given the chance, and it’s implied that he was leading the monsters back in the war with the humans - and he TRAINED UNDYNE, who will flat-out tell Frisk that her only value is in being dead.
> 
> I suspect that Sans was involved in something less-than-kosher (ohai, Gaster?) and Asgore is blackmailing him. He’s smart enough to make it sound like a debt instead of a demand. Sans is smart enough to see through it, but is too guilt-ridden and lazy to protest.
> 
> .
> 
> In other news, I am still alive after an impressive attempt on my life by a reckless driver, so I thought this story would be fitting (despite the fact that the first draft was written almost a year ago). Thanks to everyone who offered kudos on my stories during my time away! I'm hoping to get back into the twice-weekly update schedule, pending further family emergencies, good grief. Almost everyone's out of the hospital now, so if you enjoy these updates please cross your fingers and pray to your deity of choice.


End file.
